"If you want to know what real jazz singing can be (but rarely is), listen to Judy NIEMACK ... She is a musician in the truest sense, having mastered her instrument (a beautiful one), and her chosen language and crafted her own style" - DAN MORG [+]"If you want to know what real jazz singing can be (but rarely is), listen to Judy NIEMACK ... She is a musician in the truest sense, having mastered her instrument (a beautiful one), and her chosen language and crafted her own style" - DAN MORGENSTERN (DOWN BEAT)
Judy NIEMACK is a real jazz singer. Her delivery of lyrics is full of emotion and elegance, while in her scat singing she is a consummate musician, exploring the music like a virtuoso horn player. Having completed her Classical voice studies as a coloratura soprano, she then chose to delve into the mainstream jazz tradition, breaking new ground with original lyrics, arrangements and a modern approach to standards.
Judy NIEMACK was born in Pasadena, California and began singing publicly at the age of 7 in church. Throughout her school years, she sang in every kind of vocal ensemble: madrigals, chamber choir, musical theatre productions, folk groups, rock bands, and eventually a vocal jazz quartet. When she was 17, she decided that singing would be her life, and began to study classical voice with a teacher of "bel canto". At 18, she heard and met the great tenor saxophonist Warne MARSH, and became fascinated by jazz and improvisation. She attended Pasadena City College, studying classical voice, and jazz improvisation with alto saxophonist Gary FOSTER. Continuing her classical studies for the next six years, while singing in jazz clubs at night, she studied at New England Conservatory in Boston, attended the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Workshop, and, realizing that her true path lay in improvised music, returned to California to study vocal improvisation with Warne MARSH. Marsh taught her as he would teach a horn player. Her goal was to improvise as freely as a great jazz musician would, using all the vocal colors that her classical and jazz training had given her.
In 1977, Ms. NIEMACK moved to New York City to pursue her career as a jazz vocalist. Her first major performance was a week at the Village Vanguard with Warne MARSH in 1978. Her first recording, "By Heart", was released that year on SEABREEZE Records.
Since then she has performed in most of the major clubs in N.Y.C., including The Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Fat Tuesday's, The Village Gate, Visiones and The Rainbow Roo
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